Katie Taylor, Natalie Humphreys depart BBC Studios

BBC Studios has lost two more execs, with Katie Taylor (pictured, left), controller of in-house entertainment and events, and Natalie Humphreys (right), controller of factual and daytime production, both exiting the UK pubcaster's new production division.

Katie Taylor (pictured, left), controller of in-house entertainment and events, is exiting the fledgling production arm, along with Natalie Humphreys (right), controller of factual and daytime production.

Taylor oversaw in-house entertainment production and events across all programs and sites, and was the first woman to run the in-house entertainment department at the BBC, according to the pubcaster. She oversaw such formats as Strictly Come Dancing, Top Gear and Dragons’ Den.

Prior to this role, she served as executive editor of comedy entertainment at the pubcaster, and before that, she was a commissioning editor in entertainment at Channel 4.

Humphreys, meanwhile, oversaw more than 1,000 hours of content across natural history, science, arts, documentary, features and formats, among others. Her recent credits include Life Story with David Attenborough, Countryfile and Life and Death Row.

She joined the BBC in 2011 as head of specialist factual. Prior to that, she served as head of specialist factual at Shine Television.

Taylor and Humphreys’ departures come weeks after Mark Freeland, director of scripted at BBC Studios, revealed he would be leaving. The exec left the outfit ahead of its official April 29 launch.

Peter Salmon announced in early March that he would be stepping down as head of BBC Studios to join Endemol Shine Group as chief creative officer. Mark Linsey, formerly acting director of BBC Television, replaced him as director later that month.

Speaking to UK trade Broadcast, Linsey confirmed that his new team will feature scripted, factual and entertainment directors, but that he will be looking for a “return on creativity” from each of them.

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About The Author

Meagan Kashty is an associate editor of realscreen, an international print and online magazine that covers the non-fiction film and television industries. Meagan is an award-winning business journalist. Prior to joining the realscreen team, Meagan was online editor of Canadian Grocer, named Magazine of the Year at the 2015 Canadian Business Media Awards. She can be reached at mkashty@brunico.com, and you can follow her on Twitter @MegKashty